Wednesday, September 20, 2006
SACO - Members of the real estate investment group that plans to give Saco Island a makeover costing as much as $100 million say they want to begin work next spring and finish the project within two years.
But before Saco Island LLC buys the 15-acre island and makes a single improvement, members said, it must negotiate tax reimbursement from the city and gain access to city-owned land for a large parking lot.
After two years of studying the prominent property between the downtown districts of Saco and Biddeford, the developers said they concluded that the only way to do the project is to make a large initial investment and proceed quickly.
"We're not going to do this piecemeal," Saco Island's General Manager Sam Spencer said Tuesday after a news conference to announce the plans. "We're going to sink a lot of money up front."
The largest building in the redevelopment plan, Building No. 4, is an 880-foot-long empty shell that has been open to the elements for 20 years.
The investors would have to spend as much as $11 million to stabilize and improve it before they could begin to attract tenants, according to Kevin Mattson, president of Winthrop-based Harper's Development and a partner in Saco Island LLC.
Mattson said the developers would need a tax increment financing deal with Saco to offset the cost and risk of the large up-front expense. At least one city councilor, however, said he is not convinced that the developers should receive that benefit from the city.
In a TIF agreement, a municipality agrees to forgo part of a development's tax revenue with the understanding that the developer will invest the money in public improvements that are necessary for the project.
Spencer would not say how large a tax reimbursement Saco Island LLC is seeking, but he said it is "very significant." He is scheduled to meet with the City Council on Monday night to request the TIF formally.
After an initial meeting with the developers Monday, Councilor Eric Cote said he remains skeptical about making a TIF agreement with Saco Island LLC because he does not see how the money would be used to benefit the public.
Spencer also will seek a deal with the city for a long-term lease on land north of Building No. 4 that the developers would like to use for a 320-spot parking lot.
On Monday, Spencer proposed that the city rent the land to the developers for $1 per year.
Cote said he was not enthusiastic about that proposition, either. "For us to give them a parking lot . . . no, I don't like that," he said.
But Saco Mayor Mark Johnston said he is confident that the city will find a way to work with the developers.
Johnston said he sees the proposal by Saco Island LLC as a new chapter in the history of what was once the largest complex of cotton mills in the world.
The mayor said the design of the development, which would mix residential and commercial uses and provide easy access to the nearby train station, would benefit the community.
"If the city wants to bring life to downtown, to slow down sprawl, this is the type of development that can do it," he said. "And we'll work to make sure it happens."
The developers who are proposing to remake Saco Island provided some details about their plans Tuesday.
The project, which Mattson said could run to $100 million, would include a mixture of office and residential space on lower floors of Building No. 4, with 50 or more condominiums on the top floor.
There would be another 33 condominiums priced at as much as $800,000 apiece, a marina and a waterfront park on the south side of the island.
Proponents of the development plan said they see it as a force that would propel economic development throughout the region, and at least one Biddeford mill owner said he agreed.
"I just don't think economic development can happen in a vacuum," said Steven Sobol, owner of the Riverdam Mill. "You can't do it here and not have it spill over."
But the first step is coming to an agreement with the City Council, and Cote said that is by no means ensured.
"It's not a done deal," he said.
Staff Writer Seth Harkness can be contacted at 282-8225 or at:
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